In the US, we have the right - protected by the 5th Amendment to the Constitution - to remain silent. Sometimes, I wish more people exercised that right.
Consider the mess surrounding the recent Congressional testimony by the Presidents of Harvard and Penn (source). From what I saw, there was one goal in bringing in these witnesses for questioning - scoring points. Nothing about what I read dealt with fact-finding or exploring issues.
I thought about the episode and the rules under which it was conducted. It is similar in many ways to a court room, except in court, witnesses have more rights.
I thought about my career as a forensic scientist, and my absolute dread of testifying. You see, being an autistic gestalt processor (aka, non-verbal) and alexithymic presents unique challenges when testifying in high-stakes situations. With autism, interpreting others' emotional cues and expectations can prove difficult. And alexithymia, the inability to identify one's own emotions, compounds these difficulties. With gestalt processing, one may lack the dexterity / scripts to adequately answer questions, especially under pressure.
Take a courtroom trial, for example. The autistic individual may struggle to pick up on charged emotions or implicit social rules. Maintaining eye contact with a stern prosecutor whilst carefully wording responses feels bewildering. Meanwhile, questions that probe emotional state like "How did you feel when...?" leave one perplexed. With little insight into one's feelings, as in alexithymia, or the correct gestalts to reflect them, accurately conveying emotional reactions proves nearly impossible.
Under cross-examination, things only worsen. When rapid-fire, emotionally-loaded questions come, the autistic alexithymic gestalt processor witness gets overwhelmed. Details get lost or expressed inaccurately amidst the verbal onslaught. Though unintentional, inaccuracies get seized upon as contradictions or falsehoods. And without correctly assessing their own escalating anxiety, the witness cannot signal rising distress ahead of the inevitable melt-down.
The already uphill battle becomes sheer cliff face. What facts the witness does provide get washed away beneath waves of perceived emotional disconnect or falsehoods. And without correctly identifying the emotions underlying many questions and reactions, the answers presumed by the neurotypical-facing system, the autistic witness flounders in providing credible, coherent testimony. A potential injustice lurks if the unique challenges these individuals face go unrecognized.
With all of this in mind, I wondered about the witnesses as they struggled to offer “their correct answers” in the face of questions that presumed an alternate set of truths.
Thus it is. One has the right to silence. I wonder what the response from the media’s pundits would be if the presidents of the schools would have responded thus, “I am aware of the tone and tenor of the planned hearing. Believing that anything that I may say will not only be used against me to ruin my reputation and career, but will be twisted in meaning and content, I respectfully invoke my right to remain silent, as protected by the 5th Amendment of the Constitution.” I wonder if that would have worked … or would it have stirred things up even more.
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I was once on a witness stand in a trial and though I am verbal and at least somewhat self-aware of my own emotions (at least I think I am?) what you described hit me. The experience was a disaster and resulted in a miscarriage of justice. I am haunted to this day by my various traumatizing interactions with law enforcement and the legal system. I have very little faith in it as a result.
I was once on a witness stand in a trial and though I am verbal and at least somewhat self-aware of my own emotions (at least I think I am?) what you described hit me. The experience was a disaster and resulted in a miscarriage of justice. I am haunted to this day by my various traumatizing interactions with law enforcement and the legal system. I have very little faith in it as a result.